Improvement in carving-forks



UNITED STATES PATENT QEETCE.

GEORGE L. HEART, OF BRIDGEPORT, ASSIGNOB OF ONE-HALF HIS RIG-HT TO JAMES D. FRARY, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

-IMPROVEMENT IN CARVING-FORKS.

SpecificationV forming part of Letters Patent N o. 179,916, dated July 18, 1876; application vfiled July 1, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. HART, of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented anew Improvement in Carving-Forks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with 'the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the saine, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a back View, and in Fig. 2a longitudinal section.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of carving-forks which are provided with a guard combined with a rest for supporting the fork when lying upon the table.

In the usual construction the guard and rest are so made that they are held in either position by a spring only; hence are liable to be accidentally closed-as, for instance, in moving the fork on the table the rest may be easily thrown down, so as to bring the tlnes upon the table, and thus defeat the design of the rest.

The object of this invention is to construct the guard and rest so that, when open, they will be locked in that position, and lessen the liability ot' being accidentally closed; and in such a construction the invention consists.

A is the handle, B the shank, and C the tines, ot' substantially the usual form. Through the shank a mortise is made, in theA usual position for the mortise for the guard. D is the guard, hinged in the said mortise in a pivot, d, with a spring, a, in its rear, the tendency of which is to force the guard into its closed position. E is the rest, preferably constructed with two branches, its upper end hung in the niortise in the shank upon a pivot, e, iforward ofthe pivot of the guard, its end fextending up so as to bear upon the guard above its pivot. Below this bcaringpoint a shoulder, h, is formed on the guard. This completes the construction.

To raise the guard, having the handle of the fork in the hand, press the thumb upon one branch ot' the rest to force it downward, as indicated in broken lines, which will force up the guard until the nose fof the rest engages with the shoulder h on the guard. Then the spring upon the guard will hold the two in that connection.

In or'der to make the connection a lock, the shoulder h should be cut under; but this is not essential to the support-ot' both guard and rest.

To close the guard and rest, disengage the nose otl the rest from the shoulderr ot' the guard, and the spring at once closes the two and holds them in their closed position.

I claimi- In a carving-fork, the guard D and rest E, arranged upon independent pivotsiu theshank ot' the fork, the nose ofthe rest extending upward to act upon and engage with the guard, and combined with a spring to hold the two in their engaged or in their closed position, substantially asdescribed.

GEORGE L. HART. Witnesses:

F. W. HURD, R. F. SHELpoN. 

